Bugle Newspapers 3-16-23

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benet boys place second in class 4a

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for the bugle

Benet answered just about every challenge it faced all season, rolling to a school record 35 wins and suffering just one regular season loss to Simeon in the Pontiac Holiday Tournament championship game.

On Saturday night, however, the task of taking on a Moline team led by two Iowa recruits with their leading scorer sidelined was too much for the Redwings.

Brock Harding poured in 28 points and 6-foot-10 Owen Freeman provided a huge defensive presence as Moline claimed its first state championship while denying Benet its first with a 5942 win in the Class 4A final at the State Farm Center.

“I couldn’t be prouder of these guys,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “They gave us an unbelievable season from start to finish. I’m not sure what the expectations were going into the season but they easily surpassed

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STeVe mIllaR

pritzker signs measure guaranteeing five days paid leave

Gov. JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 208 into law Monday, ensuring at least 40 hours of paid leave for Illinois workers.

Effective Jan. 1, 2024, workers will begin to earn paid leave on their first day at a rate of one hour of leave for every 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours of paid leave for the year.

Employees can begin using their paid leave either 90 days after their employment begins or 90 days after the act’s effective date.

“Today we will become the third state in the nation to require paid time off and the first among the largest states,” Pritzker said in a Monday news conference. “I’m exceptionally proud that labor and business came together to recognize the value of this requirement to employees and employers alike.”

The measure passed in both chambers earlier this year during the 102nd General Assembly’s lame duck session. Prior to the act’s effective date, Il-

linois workers have not been guaranteed paid time off for sick leave, child care, medical appointments or any other reason.

“About 4 million workers…in Illinois do not have access to even a single sick day,” said state Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Westchester, who carried the bill in the Senate.

The measure has been under negotiation since 2019 and has “changed hands” a number of times since its inception, Lightford said.

Lightford, who is the Senate’s majority leader, acknowledged former state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, who served from 2009 until 2019 and was an original carrier of the bill.

“This is an issue that has been lingering around the General Assembly for far too long,” Lightford said. “I’m really glad it landed in my lap when it came over to the Senate.”

When SB 208 was debated on the floor in January, one key point of opposition was that it would burden small businesses by raising costs.

“My major concern are the little guys. It’s the mom-and-pops that

have 5, 10, maybe 13 employees, that this has a significant impact on their budgets,” Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, RJacksonville, said on the House floor. Pritzker pushed back against this sentiment at the bill signing ceremony.

“Just like bigger businesses, small businesses want their workers to be more productive, to be able to deal

with their stresses, emergencies at home, so they can be better and more productive at work,” Pritzker said. “I want to encourage anybody who’s concerned about that to look at, and remind the workers who work for them, how important it is that we have a law like that that protects workers in the state of Illinois.”

The measure does not apply to employees subject to collectively bargained contracts, because time off would be subject to negotiations between the union and the employer. Ultimately, the measure received a few Republican votes in the House but passed the Senate with only Democratic support.

bY nIKa ScHoonoVeR capitol news Illinois

D. 202 high school students to compete at Deca international conference in orlando, florida

Seven students from Plainfield North and East high schools will compete at the DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) from April 22-25, 2023, in Orlando, Florida.

Referred to by participants as “The Super Bowl” of DECA events, District 202 students will compete with thousands of students from across the nation and world.

Students had to qualify for the conference at the DECA State competition, known as the Illinois Career Development Conference in March in Rosemont.

More than 50 Plainfield North and East high school students competed at the state competition.

PEHS Career Technical Education teacher

Angelina Haney is in her 16th year serving as the school’s DECA Advisor. “I am so proud of all PEHS DECA students and their accomplishments this year,” Haney said.

PNHS Business Education teacher Liam McKenna is in his ninth year serving as the school’s DECA Advisor. “DECA is a great oppor-

tunity for students to meet new people, learn about business topics, and to compete through real world scenarios,” McKenna said.

These students will compete at DECA ICDC:

Plainfield North High School

• Jackson Dunn, junior, Entrepreneurship

Team Decision Making

• Iniya Mani, sophomore, Financial Consulting Event

• Sydney Pavlik, junior, Entrepreneurship

Team Decision Making

• Tharun Veeraiah, sophomore, Financial Operations Research

Plainfield East High School

• Haroon Arain, junior, Automotive Service Marketing

• Valery Espinoza, junior, Restaurant & Food Service Marketing

• Jocelyn Trotter, senior, Apparel & Accessories Marketing

• DECA is a competitive club that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.

bill aims to guarantee youth sentenced to life in prison a chance at parole

Illinois lawmakers advanced a bill last week that would effectively abolish life sentences for any incarcerated individual who was under the age of 21 when they received their sentence.

In January, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law that makes any individual who was under the age of 21 when sentenced to life in prison eligible for parole review after they served 40 years or more of their sentence. But the measure only applied to those sentenced on or after June 1, 2019.

Senate Bill 2073, carried by Republican Sen. Seth Lewis, of Bartlett, would extend the measure retroactively to apply to any currently incarcerated individual who was sentenced before turning 21. The law signed by Pritzker in January takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, and SB 2073 would be effective July 1, 2024.

“The 3,251 current inmates who were sentenced prior to June 1, 2019,

or Jan. 1, 2024, should have the opportunity (for parole review),” Lewis said in committee. “That is the essence of this bill.”

The measure passed out of committee on a 7-3 vote and awaits action from the full House.

The push to abolish youth imprisonment for life follows five U.S. Supreme Court decisions that found “children are constitutionally different from adults in their levels of culpability.” One 2012 ruling found life sentences for those under the age of 18 violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Lewis’ bill is the latest in a series of moves reexamining sentences for young people in Illinois.

The Rev. Lindsey Hammond, policy director at Restore Justice, a nonpartisan statewide organization that advocates for criminal legal reform, testified that juveniles are more capable of rehabilitation as they “grow and mature.”

“Many people convicted of crimes as children and young adults will age

out of crime and not commit crimes later in life,” Hammond said. “People who receive extreme sentences as children and youth are uniquely capable of change and therefore recidivate at extremely low rates.”

Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins with Marsy’s Law for Illinois, an organization that advocates for crime victims’ rights, testified against the bill. Jenkins said the bill as drafted doesn’t do enough to ensure victims or their families will be notified when an individual becomes eligible for parole.

“In the case of a retroactive change in the law, you have to do it differently,” Jenkins said in an interview. “You have to make sure that everybody that’s going to be affected is found and notified and heard from.”

Currently, the bill states the Prisoner Review Board must provide notice to the victims or victims’ families by certified mail before the parole hearing date.

Jenkins said this wasn’t enough, instead suggesting the court of ori-

gin should handle the notification rather than the Prisoner Review Board.

“I do not think that we’ve addressed in this bill, though, the structural problem of notification ... by certified mail isn’t going to find these people,” Jenkins said in committee. “Many of them didn’t register, moved, or changed addresses. They didn’t know that, after this was all over, they had to stay in touch and keep their address posted with PRB.” Committee chair and state Sen.

Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, said there would need to be a commitment to continue conversations on the bill for the committee to pass it.

Lewis agreed to keep working on an amendment to the bill.

“There was not a commitment to getting an agreed bill, there was a commitment to trying to see if we can get closer and get to that point,” Lewis said in an interview. “We may not get there because there was so much emotion involved around this process.”

bY nIKa ScHoonoVeR capitol news Illinois

SpoRTS

Joliet native tabbed as JJc bowling coach

The Joliet Junior College athletic department is pleased to announce Jeff Bailey as the Wolves’ first men’s and women’s bowling coach. JJC will begin competitive bowling with the 2023-24 school year.

Bailey, a Joliet native, brings a wealth of experience and success to the Wolves program. He has coached high school bowling in Illinois for 13 years, spending the past nine as the Joliet West girls coach and the four prior as the Plainfield South boys coach.

“I am so excited to bring in Jeff Bailey as the college’s first ever head bowling coach,” Director of Athletics, Gregg Braun, said. “Jeff’s passion for the game of bowling and the student athletes he coaches immediately came out during our conversations. His excitement to move to the collegiate level and begin the bowling program here at JJC was tremendous.

“Coach Bailey’s commitment and pride in the Joliet community is really amazing – I cannot wait to watch him grow this program here at Joliet Junior College and within our community.”

He is the only Illinois high school bowling coach to win a state title as a girls and boys coach. In 2016, he led the Joliet West girls team to a championship, and in 2010, his Plainfield South boys team won the state title.

Bailey looks to keep that championship mindset in District 525.

“I’m deeply honored to be selected as the initial bowling coach at Joliet Junior College,” Bailey said. “I look forward to building the program into one of the top competitive schools in the country. There is so much great talent in the Joliet and surrounding area, as it is the premiere area for our sport in the state.”

Bailey’s West teams qualified for the state finals in all but one year and

placed in the top 10 five times in addition to the 2016 state title. This year his West team placed second at the state finals. His West teams won five conference, three sectional and three regional titles.

“Bowling has been a part of my life for a long time, and I have learned so much from coaching on the high school level and following my daughter’s collegiate career,” Bailey said. “I feel I have many resources to build a winning tradition at JJC.”

Bailey is a lifelong resident of Joliet and is manager at Town & Country Lanes in Joliet, which will serve as the Wolves’ home house. His daughter, Taylor, lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and is the assistant coach for the Arkansas State University women’s bowling team. Taylor was an all-state bowler at Joliet West and was a member of the 2016 state championship team.

TAX DEED NO. 2023TX000051

FILED March 2, 2023

TAKE NOTICE

TO: LAUREN STALEY FERRY, WILL COUNTY CLERK; PINE MEADOW CONDOMINIUM NO. 2; SABRINA JEAN FREDERICK; OCCUPANT; UNKNOWN OWNERS OR PARTIES INTERESTED; AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS.

This is NOTICE of the filing of the Petition for Tax Deed on the following described property:

UNIT D-8-2, IN PINE MEADOW CONDOMINIUM NO. 2, AS DELINEATED ON THE PINE MEADOW CONDOMINIUM NO. 2, SURVEY OF CERTAIN LOTS OF PARTS THEREOF, IN PINE MEADOW, A SUBDIVISION IN THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF THE NORTHEAST QUARTER OF SECTION 15, IN TOWNSHIP 37 NORTH, AND IN RANGE 10 EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERDIAN, ACCORDING TO THE PLAT THEREOF RECORDED SEPTEMBER 10, 1971, AS DOCUMENT NO.

R71-21842, WHICH SURVEY IS ATTACHED AS EXHIBIT “A” TO DECLARATION OF CONDOMINIUM MADE BY KAUFMAN AND BROAD HOMES, INC., AN ILLINOIS CORPORATION, RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE RECORDER OF DEEDS OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS, AS DOCUMENT NO. R74-2040, AS AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME, TOGETHER WITH AN UNDIVIDED PERCENTAGE INTEREST IN SAID PARCEL. (EXCEPTING FROM SAID PARCEL ALL THE PROPERTY AND SPACE COMPRISING ALL THE UNITS THEREOF AS DEFINED AND SET FORTH IN SAID DECLARATION AND SURVEY), IN WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Parcel Index Number 12-02-15-222-033-0000

On July 17, 2023 at 9:00 a.m., Courtroom 905 the Petitioner intends to make application for an order on the petition that a Tax Deed be issued. The real estate was sold on December 9, 2020 for general taxes of the year 2019. The period of redemption will expire July 10, 2023.

Heather Ottenfeld, Attorney for Petitioner

(847) 721-4996

Cert. # 19-00409

8147-930892

Published

whatever they were.

“These guys are hurting a little bit right now, but we lost to a great team. I want to congratulate (Moline coach Sean Taylor) and his team. They played a great game, they’ve had an unbelievable season and they’re worthy champs.”

Brayden Fagbemi and Andy Nash scored 12 points each, while Niko Abusara finished with 10 points and five rebounds for Benet (35-2), which played without leading scorer Brady Kunka. Kunka injured his ankle in Friday’s semifinal win over New Trier.

Fagbemi, who is set to continue his basketball career at Johns Hopkins after leading the Redwings all season from his point guard position, knew it would be an uphill climb without Kunka.

“That’s our captain,” Fagbemi said. “That’s our guy. Seeing him go down is the worst thing we can imagine. The way he plays and the energy he brings game in and game out is something we lost. But the rest of the guys had to make up for it.”

Fagbemi did his best to make up for it, scoring all his points in the first half.

The Redwings were in the game at halftime, trailing 32-25, but scored just five points in the third quarter as Moline (35-3) started to pull away.

The Maroons used a 10-0 run midway through the third to take a commanding lead.

While Benet has overcome its lack of size all season and still had success around the basket with its speedy guards able to drive to the basket, Freeman made it tough for that to happen Saturday night.

“He’s a good player, going to Iowa,” Abusara said of Freeman. “He blocks shot. He’s a versatile player. All credit to him. He’s probably one of the best defenders I’ve ever played against. He’s definitely a problem for anyone to deal with.”

Abusara and Fagbemi scored 18 points each in Benet’s 64-49

semifinal win over New Trier on Friday. Abusara also had nine rebounds and a whopping eight steals. Parker Sulaver contributed 12 points and six rebounds and Sam Driscoll, who replaced Kunka after his first-quarter injury, stepped up with 11 points.

“To have that happen was really heartbreaking,” Heidkamp said of Kunka’s injury. “But these guys really rallied. I think it really provided extra motivation to get this game.”

It’s the third runner-up finish in program history for Benet, which is still seeking its first championship.

The Redwings lost 46-44 to Whitney Young in the 2014 Class 4A championship game and 6559 to Curie in the 2016 Class 4A championship game.

Unfortunately for Benet, the third time was not the charm Saturday night.

Nonetheless, Heidkamp knows this team was special.

“These kids are unselfish,” Heidkamp said. “They’ve sacrificed all year. I know it sounds cliché, but we saw it all here (at state). They’re not worried about who gets the credit. They’re just worried about doing the right things and winning.

“We also have a very talented team.”

Downers Grove North finishes fourth: Downers Grove North’s memorable run ended with a 53-34 loss to New Trier in Friday night’s third-place game.

The fourth-place finish is still the best in program history for the Trojans, who won their first state trophy.

Alex Miller led Downers Grove North (32-5) with six points, while Max Haack and Henry Sevcik had five each.

The Trojans struggled following a short turnaround after their semifinal loss earlier in the evening, as the third-place game tipped off around 9:30 p.m.

In the semifinal, Downers Grove North fell 50-36 to Moline despite 19 points from Jack Stanton. Haack and George Wolkow added six points each.

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edward-elmhurst Health recruiting new dogs for animal-assisted Therapy

Edward-Elmhurst Health is seeking more dogs for its AnimalAssisted Therapy program at Edward Hospital in Naperville and Elmhurst Hospital. To be considered, please visit www.eehealth. org/ways-to-give/volunteer/ animal-assisted-therapy and complete the online application. Applicants will be contacted for pre-screening.

Those who meet qualification requirements will be scheduled for temperament testing on one of the following days – April 28, 29 or 30 – within a two-hour time slot at Edward Hospital, 801 S. Washington St. in Naperville.

Dogs and their handlers selected for the program must attend mandatory training at Edward Hospital, 801 S Washington St in Naperville on Saturday and Sunday, June 3 and 4, from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. both days.

For more information, call Cynthia Brooks at (630) 527-5305, or email cynthia.brooks@eehealth. org.

To be considered, dogs must

meet the following requirements:

• Sit/down/stay/recall/leave-it on command

• Walk loosely on a leash without pulling

• Get along well with other dogs

• Perform required commands without treats

• Like people

• Not be overly vocal

• Be at least one year of age at time of testing

• Lived with you for at least six months at time of testing

• Current on all vaccinations

• Prong collars, gentle leaders and retractable leashes are not accepted

• Handlers must be 18 years of age or older

Handlers and their dogs are encouraged to have completed a group obedience training class within the past year.

Edward-Elmhurst Health’s Animal-Assisted Therapy program began in 2002 and has done over 240,000 patient visits since the beginning of the program.

oakton college earns 2023-2024 military friendly School designation

Oakton College has earned the Military Friendly® School designation for the eighth consecutive year. The distinction honors colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members and veterans as students and ensure their success on campus. Oakton received a Silver Award for the 2023-2024 year.

“Our commitment to all our students means we understand that every journey presents its own challenges, and the veteran’s and service member’s journeys are no different. We are proud to be recognized for the eighth consecutive year, and we will continue to ensure that the veterans in our community receive the support they need to attain quality education,” said Brooke Roche, veterans academic advisor.

Institutions earning the Mili-

tary Friendly® School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. More than 1,800 schools participated in the 2023-2024 survey with 665 earning special awards for going above the standard.

Oakton will host staff from the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital Tuesday, March 21 from 11 a.m.1 p.m. at the Des Plaines campus, 1600 E. Golf Road, to discuss enrollment, eligibility and requirements for VA health care benefits with community members. The Hospital staff will help attendees understand and complete the benefits application and answer questions about the PACT Act, a law that expands VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances, and the new changes. The event is free to

attend and open to the public.

“Military Friendly® is committed to transparency and providing consistent data-driven standards in our designation process. Our standards provide a benchmark that promotes positive outcomes and support services that better the educational landscape and provide opportunity for the Military Community. This creates a competitive atmosphere that encourages colleges to evolve and invest in their programs consistently. Schools who achieve awards designation show true commitment in their efforts, going over and above that standard,” said Kayla Lopez, national director of Military Partnerships, Military Friendly®.

The 2023-2024 Military Friendly® Schools list will be published in the May and October issue of G.I. Jobs magazine and can be

found at www.military friendly. com.

Methodology, criteria, and weightings were determined by Viqtory with input from the Military Friendly® Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher education and military recruitment community. Final ratings were determined by combining the institution’s survey scores with the assessment of the institution’s ability to meet thresholds for Student Retention, Graduation, Job Placement, Loan Repayment, Persistence (Degree Advancement or Transfer) and Loan Default rates for all students and, specifically, for student veterans.

Oakton College is committed to providing access to exceptional educational opportunities to veterans. In spring 2022, 152 veteran students enrolled at Oakton. Dedicated staff members provide

academic and financial aid advising to help veteran students stay on track to complete their goals. Oakton also established a Veterans Emergency Fund to help students who encounter unforeseen expenses. Additionally, Oakton College partners annually with the Des Plaines Chamber of Commerce & Industry to offer the Veterans Back to Work Boot Camp providing comprehensive career development programming using proven job-seeking tools adapted to the needs, experiences and skills of veterans.

To learn more about Oakton’s programs and resources dedicated to serving veterans, please visit: https://www.oakton.edu/ admissions/apply-to-oakton/veterans-info/